Conservative MP Pauline Latham has been heavily criticised for a "callous" response to a voter who discovered a lorry full of child refugees.

Daniel Grimwood was moved to write to Latham after she said people need to “stop being so sentimental” about child refugees, The Independent said.

He told of his experience when he heard banging from inside a lorry while jogging past it. Inside the lorry, he said, were two adults, along with several toddlers and two babies.

"Had we not been there some or all of these children would almost certainly have died in a parking lot on our shores," Grimwood continued, before calling Latham's speech "chilling in its inhumanity."

In response, Latham reportedly replied with a single line: “Maybe you will be contacting your local authority and offering to foster or adopt these poor trafficked children. Sent from my iPad."

After this Grimwood told The Independent: “The first thing that shocked me about it really was the extreme rudeness of it." He also said the response was "callous" - a word he had also used to describe Latham in his original letter.

The MP for Mid Derbyshire has made a statement about the exchange, saying: “I have spoken at great length about the desperate situation facing refugees.

"Families face a terrible situation and I have made it clear that other countries, alongside the UK, should play their part in helping people in such difficult circumstances.”

Despite this, the MP has now admitted to a "poor choice of words" when saying people were sentimental about child refugees.